Prime Minister Meles Zenawi welcomes Goodluck Jonathan, president of
Nigeria, inside the National Palace on Friday,
October 7, 2011 before they held a discussion for
about an hour and half on political and economic
relationships between Ethiopia and the West African
country. Points of discussions included Eritrea,
Foreign Direct Investment from Nigeria, the
strengthening of airline and freight services as
well as the GTP. During a press conference after the
meeting, Meles told Jonathan that although the
telecom sector in Ethiopia won’t be open for now,
there are many sectors Nigerian companies can get
involved in. The visit by the Presidnt, part of a
trip to Rwanda and Ghana, came two days after
Dangote Group, a Nigerian company, signed an
agreement to build a 400 million dollar cement
factory, which is expected to have a capacity to
produce two million tonnes of cement a year and be
built in Oromia Regional State.

RADAR

Financing Public-Private Consultation

Adamu Labara (left), resident representative of the International
Financial Corporation (IFC) and Jean Philippe Prosper (right),
director for Eastern and Southern Africa of the IFC, look on as
Eyesuswork Zafu (centre), president of the Ethiopian Chamber of
Commerce and Sectoral Assocition (ECCSA), makes a speech during the
signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for financing the
formation of Public-Private Consultative Fora, Facilitation and
Coordination Secretariat on Wednesday, October 5, 2011. The modality
of implementation for the financing is to be worked out between the
representatives of ECCSA and IFC, the private sector arm of the
World Bank Group.

Larger than Life

Andrea Scanzani, branch manager of Salini Construttori SpA in Addis
Abeba, shows how large the newly bought Caterpillar made Off Highway
Truck is when parked inside the Port of Djibouti last week. Bought
at a cost of 300,000 euro each, Salini has brought 20 of these heavy
duty machines at a total cost of 150 million Br. These are only part
of a large contingent of a little over 50 dampers, rollers,
excavators, graders, mixers and including two loaders by same
manufacturer, each cost 1.5 million dollars. The latter are the
first of their kind to enter Ethiopia’s construction industry,
according to Scanzani. Added to the 100 machines already brought in
the country, these machines inside the port are all to be deployed
at the project site of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

“I’ve never seen any thing like these,” said Pierre Vinggarra, manager
at Kothari, the shipping agent in Djibouti of Salini.

DANCING TO THE BEAT

A member of Leonardo Eto and his group of drummers and dancers attempts
to dance Guragegna with three Ethiopian dancers during the
performance at the National Theatre on Wednesday, October 5, 2011.
The performance was part of their Blendrums East Africa Tour, 2011.
Leonardo, who has performed with musicians such as Bob Dylan and Bon
Jovi, and his group were playing as part of the Japan Embassy’s 2011
cultural exchange program, which has included the recent pottery
exhibition.

Company in Adama Nets 5m Br before Official Inauguration

Zablon Trading announced that it has earned five million dollars from
the export of cereals and oil seeds to the United States, Israel,
Pakistan, and China. The company, which was established with an
initial capital of 10 million Br in 2009, and leasing a 10,000sqm
plot from Adam (Nazret) Town administration for 40 years at 0.81
cents per square meter, was officially inaugurated on September 13,
2011.

Zablon, founded by Biniam Bedawi, has a capacity to process 3,000tn of
cereals and oil seeds for export purpose. It plans to increase its
profit fivefold in the next five years, according to Biniam, who is
also the general manager of the company. “The profit for the last
year could have been more,” he said. “However, shortage of supply
from the farmers resulted in less profit than expected.”

The company has machinery imported from China and Turkey which can sort
and package 80 quintals of oil seeds and cereals in one hour,
according to Biniam, who also has an oil refinery. The company,
whose capital has reached 30 million, has two warehouses, with a
capacity of storing 60,000 and 140,000 quintals, and a three storey
office building which rests on 260sqm.

The country earned 487.6 million dollars by exporting 225,549tns of
cereals and 298,384tns oil seeds in 2010/11 fiscal year.

Spurred by the road construction projected in Ethiopia’s five-year
economic plan, Du Pont, an American-based company that operates
globally in 90 countries, is aiming to enter the market providing
Asphalt modification technology.

In a bid to convince stakeholders in the sector of the benefits of
using Polymer Modified Bitumen (PMB) application in road
construction, the company, which was established in 1802 in the
United States, held a seminar on October 5, 2011 at Sheraton Hotel.
Among those present were ERA and AACRA, Quality Assurance and
Control Authority, National Petroleum Enterprise and Contractors.
The company aims to sell Elavaloy, the company’s industrial polymer
product used in PMB.

PMB will increase the elasticity and, resilience of asphalt roads by
strengthening the asphalt to carry heavy traffic loads and resist
high temperatures so that it will prevent early cracking, according
to Richard Ntombela, Du Pont Sub-Saharan Africa Sales and Technical
specialist on industrial polymers. He presented some cases of early
cracking and deformation on Ethiopian highways like Mojo- Awasa,
Awash-Nazret and Addis Abeba-Gohatsion.

“PMB can help avoid unnecessary maintenance cost and we are planning to
supply Elvaloy to Ethiopia,” told Fortune. “PMB have already been
extremely effective for a number of years in developed countries
globally, as well as utilised successfully in the construction of
national roads for emerging African countries.”

The five-year economic plan of the country aims to increase the total
road length from 48,800km to 64,500km and construct new 71,523km all
weather road.

IGAD to be Restructured

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is to be
restructured soon, with Ernest & Young (EY) as a consultant.
Delegates from six member states and staff discussed and validated a
proposal from Ernest & Young on how best the organisation can meet
its mandate. Restructuring the regional organization would overhaul
financial management, human resources, and procurement and internal
controlling systems in line with international best practices,
according to a press release from the organization.

Changes to be made in the working procedures of the organization,
created in 1996 to supersede the Intergovernmental Authority on
Drought and Development (IGADD), which was founded in 1986, are
expected to make it eligible for direct funding from partners as
financial management would be aligned with supply side procedures.

Although the organization has upgraded its systems, policies and
operational manuals recently, it is anticipated that the
restructuring will bring about an overall revitalization. One of the
objectives of the organization is to promote joint development
strategies and gradually harmonize macro-economic policies and
programmes in the social, technological and scientific fields.

Anti Corruption, WB Agree to Exchange Info on Projects

The Federal Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (FIAC) has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the World Bank (WB) for
exchanging information on cases of corruption cases related to
projects the later finances. The agreement was signed between Ali
Suleiman, commissioner of the commission and Leonard McCarthy, World
Bank's Integrity vice president, at the headquarters of the
commission, on Monday, October 4, 2011.

Financed by the World Bank (WB), commission is conducting the second
national baseline corruption survey at a cost of 7.9 million Br this
year. The Tanzanian based American company, Kilimanjaro
International Cooperation, is the conducting the study. The most
intensive corruption rate is observed in places where financial
resources are transferred, in the allocation of scarce resources
such as land and where contracts are enforced by court of law,
according to the first baseline survey conducted by The Institute of
Educational Research of Addis Abeba University (AAU).

Accordingly, Institutions that are singled out to be highly corrupted
and inefficient by households and business enterprises included
Customs Authority, the police, including traffic police, and all
utility service institutions.

ET to Start Flying to 62nd Destination

Ethiopian Airlines (ET) is to start flights to Victoria, the capital of
the Republic of Seychelles, one of the most favorite tourist
destination cities in East Africa. The carrier which will begin the
service three times a week in November this year will serve
Seychelles using Boing 737 wide body aircraft.

Ethiopian, one of the largest and fastest growing airlines in Africa,
which made its first flight to Cairo in 1946, expects to handle
passenger and cargo services flying from any part of the world to
Seychelles and vice versa through its hub at Addis Ababa
International Airport.

The new flight to Victoria marks the national flag carrier’s 62
destination globally and 40th in Africa, further expanding the
airline’s route network as part of the company’s strategic
initiative to link up major African cities with the rest of the
world.

The flag carrier made a net profit of 121.4 million dollars, ranking it
as the most profitable airline in Africa by far, according to 2011
report by Air transport Report (ATR).

Roads Authority Commits Five Billion Birr

The Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has signed agreements amounting to
five billion Br for 46 projects with 15 contractors and 31
consultants in announcement made during its annual meeting held at
Alem Gena, located 19Km from Addis Abeba, on August 12, 2011.

The agreements were signed between 12 new contractors including the
Diriba Defersa General Contractor with the highest contact of 623
million Br. In addition, ERA signed agreements with three
contractors that have pre-existing contracts with the authority,
including SATCON Construction, Alemayehu Ketema General Contractor,
and Gemshu Beyene Construction, signing contracts amounting to 698
million Br, 479 million Br and 777 million Br, respectively.

The agreement consists of erecting about 555Km in roads out of which
357Km will be for asphalt road construction and the rest of 201Km
will be for gravel road construction.

The ERA planned to work on 19,563Km of road construction, and budgeted
13.6 billion Br in the fiscal year of 2010/2011. The plan includes
rehabilitation, upgrading and construction of 1,755Km.

WB Changes Its Africa Strategy

The World Bank (WB) has introduced a new strategy for Africa titled,
“Africa’s future and the WB’s support to it.” This serves to boost
African economies in the same manner as those of Asia which took off
three decades ago, it stated in a press release.

The three main areas on which the project is focused are
competitiveness and employment, vulnerability and resilience, as
well as governance and the public sector.

“The strategy is as much a reflection of what we heard from Africa’s
people and leaders as it is the thinking of the WB,” according to
Shantayanan Devarajan, chief economist for Africa at the bank.

The new strategy reverses the order of importance of the bank’s
instruments to support Africa, with the most important aspect
becoming partnerships, followed by knowledge and finance, according
to the press release.

“We are excited about Africa’s future,” Obiageli Ezekwesili, vice
president of the Africa Region for the WB, is quoted as saying in
the press release. “We used the opportunity of our new strategy to
listen, learn, and define how to better support the continent’s
aspirations as it maintains the momentum of economic reforms over
the next decade.”

Weyra Buys 50 Tankers for Fuel Trans.

The state owned Weyra Transport SC replaced its old and outdated
vehicles and trailers with 50 new ones that have the capacity to
handle 45,000 litres of liquid goods each. A ceremony was held on
June 21, 2010 for the presentation of the new vehicles.

The vehicles, imported from China, cost the company 75 million Br.
Seventy per cent of the financing was covered by a loan from the
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). The trailers were assembled by
Mesfin Industrial Engineering.

The trucks will be assigned to transport oil for Total and OiLibya.

Weyra’s market share has grown from four per cent to seven per cent
because of the new trucks, according to Mesfin Tefera, managing
director of the company.

Beyene Gebre Meskel, director of the Privatisation and Public
Enterprises Supervising Agency (PPESA); board members; and other
officials were present at the inauguration of the vehicles.

Memorial
Hospital.

The designated
project includes the establishment of surgical device management and
provision of phachoemulsification services. On the job training for
local staff will also be part and parcel of the project. The
project, which will be implemented through the mutual consultation
of KOICA and the hospital, is expected to be completed in one year
and benefit more than one thousand people per year.

RCA Collects
Half of 5.4b Br Target for Year

The Revenue and
Customs Authority under the Addis Abeba City Administration’s
Economic and Finance Bureau managed to collect exactly half of the
5.4 billion Br it targeted for the whole 2009/10, fiscal year during
the last seven months.

The 2.7 billion Br
revenue collected from tax and non-tax income, including land lease
fees, has shown a 49pc increase from what the authority achieved
during the same time last year, according to Belay Tafesse, director
general of the authority.

“But this is not
that much satisfactory, considering the potential,” Belay said, also
indicating that the rising number of illegal trades in the city has
contributed negatively to the number.

Master Plan
Dev’d for City’s Sewerage System

The Addis Abeba
Water and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA) made a feasibility study of the
master plan for waste disposal in the city.

The plan to
dispose of waste through pipelines has been presented to
stakeholders prior to the commencement of construction.

AAWSA currently
deploys trucks and pipelines for sewerage disposal. However, the
authority plans to upgrade the city’s disposal by an additional 800
pipelines.

The design for the
eastern sewerage system’s master plan, which has been finalised will
benefit residents around Kotebe, Yeka, Bole and CMC areas and will
upgrade capacity by over 40pc, according to a press release by the
Addis Abeba City Government Communications Affairs.

The master plan
for the eastern sewerage system has been finalised and construction
will begin in the next fiscal year as soon as the budget has been
secured, according to Getnet Gessese, communication affair work
process leader at the authority.

The implementation
is expected to benefit some 840,000 residents.

Awards Given at
14th Int’l Trade Fair

The Addis Abeba
Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association held an award ceremony
at the Hilton Hotel on March 3, 2010, occasioning the closing of the
14th Addis Chamber International Trade Fair.

The first award
for Best Stand was given to Al-Sam Plc, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia,
Lucky Exports, Italian Trade Commission, MIDROC Technology Group,
SNS Household and Office Furniture, Techtra Engineering, Petram Plc,
MCO of the Federal Republic of Germany, Holland Car Plc and Q
Diagnostics Plc. The second award for Special Partnership was given
to GTZ-AMES-E.

The last award for
sponsorship was given to Al-Sam Plc, the Development Bank of
Ethiopia, Equatorial Business Group, Ethiopian Airlines, Omicron
Engineering Plc, Sonic Screen Advertising, I-Print Advertising,
Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation and United Insurance SC.

The trade fair
that took place at the Addis Abeba Exhibition Centre from February
25 to March 3, 2010 brought together more than 118 local business
companies and 108 foreign companies from 23 countries

Institute for
EIABC Dev’t Inaugurated

The inauguration
of the new Ethiopian Institute for Agriculture, Building
Construction and City Development (EIABC) was held yesterday, March
6, 2010, at Addis Abeba University (AAU) South Campus.

Demeke Mekonnen
minister of Education, Junedin Sado minister of Science and
Technology, Andreas Esheté (Prof) president of AAU and Dirk Hebel,
Scientific Director of EIABC attended the inaugural ceremony and
presented speeches on the significance of the institute.

The EIABC is one
of the eight new semiautonomous institutes of technology being
introduced in the country at various universities and is part of the
overall university reform being conducted by the Engineering
Capacity Building Programme (ECBP) and the Ministry of Education.

The university
reform component is focused on the restructuring of governance and
study programmes as well as technology transfers, standards, and
benchmarks.

ECA Hosts
African LDC Programme

The ECA hosted the
Civil Society Assembly for Assessing Development Challenges in
African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) on March 4 and 5, 2010.

The assembly
reviewed the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) and the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs)

The Brussels
Programme reviewed the last 10 year plan since coming to a close and
proposed action plans for the coming 10 years.

There are 33 LDCs
from Africa including Ethiopia. Cape Verde recently got off of the
list of LDCs.

The action plan is
to enable the LDCs to reach at least seven per cent of commodity
driven growth. The LDCs economic growth is dropping because they are
only engaged in exporting primary commodities.

Their exports face
structural difficulties since there is no diversified exports,
according to Adrian Gauci, economic affairs officer at the United
Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

In light of these
problems, the proposed growth rate may not be possible for the
coming two years. The inadequate infrastructure, small economy, less
skilled human power is to blame for slow growth rate.

New IMF
Framework for Low-income Countries Becomes Effective

The new package of
the International Monetary Fund (IMF), concessional facilities, to
support low-income countries, became effective as of January 7,
2010.

This far-reaching
reform more than doubles lending resources, provides exceptional
interest relief, and offers new lending instruments that are more
flexible and responsive to individual country needs, according to an
IMF press release.

Key elements of
the reform include three new lending instruments, interest relief,
and permanently higher concessionality.

The Extended
Credit Facility will provide flexible medium-term support; the
Standby Credit Facility will address short-term and precautionary
needs; and the Rapid Credit facility will offer emergency support
with limited conditionality.

The Fund has also
relieved developing countries from paying interest on outstanding
IMF concessional loans until the end of 2011 to help low-income
countries cope with the global crisis. Permanently higher
concessionality of Fund financial support refers to regularly
reviewed annual interest rates so as to preserve a higher level of
concessionality.